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prairies
Columbia Encyclopedia entry: prairies
Prairies, generally level, originally grass-covered and treeless plains of North America, stretching from W Ohio through Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa to the Great Plains region. The prairie belt also extends into N Missouri, S Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, E North and South Dakota, and S Canada. Many of the prairies of the world were formerly used for grazing purposes, but more and more are now coming under cultivation; hence they are often referred to today as the vanishing grasslands. The soil of the prairies is basically a black chernozem, which is extremely fertile. The prairies correspond to the Pampa of Argentina, the llanos in northern South America, the steppe of Eurasia, and the high veld of South Africa. Because they have the favorable climate and soil fertility characteristic of prairies, the wheat belts in the United States, Ukraine, and the Pampa of Argentina are among the world's most productive agricultural regions.

See R. Manning, Grassland (1995); S. R. Jones and R. C. Cushman, The North American Prairie (2004).

The Columbia Encyclopedia. Copyright © 2001-09 Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

Wikipedia search results for: Prairie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Prairies (redirected from prairies) are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type. Temperate grassland regions include the Pampas of Argentina, and the steppes of Russia and Central Asia. Lands typically referred to as "prairie" tend to be in North America. The term encompasses much of the area referred to as the Great Plains of the United States and Canada. In the U.S., the area is constituted by most or all of the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado,...more »
Columbia Encyclopedia search results: prairies
Results 1 - 10  of 133
  • prairie schooner

    Prairie schooner, wagon covered with white canvas, made famous by its almost universal use in the migration across the Western prairies and plains, and so called in allusion to the white-toppe...

  • prairie dog

    Prairie dog, short-tailed, ground-living rodent, genus Cynomys, of the squirrel family, closely related to the ground squirrels, chipmunks, and marmots. There are several species, found in the...

  • Prairie Village

    Prairie Village, city (1990 pop. 23,186), Johnson co., NE Kans.; inc. 1951. It is a residential suburb in the greater Kansas City area.

  • Grand Prairie

    Grand Prairie, city (1990 pop. 99,616), Dallas and Tarrant counties, N Tex., halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth; inc. 1909. Located in a highly urbanized and rapidly growing area, the city'...

  • Grande Prairie

    Grande Prairie, city (1991 pop. 28,271), W Alta., Canada, NW of Edmonton. It is the chief business center for the Peace River valley farming area. The discovery of oil and natural gas in the r...

  • Portage la Prairie

    Portage la Prairie, city (1991 pop. 13,186), S Man., Canada. It is the center of a mixed-farming region and has diversified industries. The city is near the site of Fort La Reine, an important...

  • Prairie Pothole Region

    Prairie Pothole Region, large geographic area of central North America consisting of grass-covered wetlands. Stretching northwest from N Iowa through SW Minnesota, E South Dakota, E and N Nort...

  • breadroot

    Breadroot or Indian breadroot, perennial plant (Psoralea esculenta) of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), indigenous to the American prairies and valued by Native Americans for the starchy...

  • coyote

    Coyote or prairie wolf, small, swift wolf, Canis latrans, native to W North America. It is found in deserts, prairies, open woodlands, and brush country; it is also called brush wolf. The coyo...

  • range

    Range, large area of land unsuited to cultivation but supporting native grasses and other plants suitable for livestock grazing. Principal areas in the western hemisphere are the pampas of Sou...

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